[Fmpro] Shore, Burton, Wood

[bipcress@comcast.net]

"I talked with Cage at a party and he didn't feel that way. I
have an interesting story concerning Cage and the performance artist
Rachel Rosenthal. It's a little long and not really part of this forum"
    Ted, if you have the time and inclination I wouldn't mind hearing Cage's 
anecdote concerning Rosenthal - feel free to write me direct. I always 
delight in details straight from the artist's life. / I will always remember 
the first time I screened Polanski's CHINATOWN, simply because both the film 
and Goldsmith's score are masterworks for the respective authors. 
Fortunately I was already familiar, and quite smitten with, Cage's THE 
PERILOUS NIGHT for prepared piano, and so I was immediately aware of the 
fact that Goldsmith had ingeniously referenced this striking but rather 
obscure piece for his score. I will never cease to be amazed that Jerry only 
had a matter of days (ten I believe) during which to generate a complete 
soundtrack, but he did, and it still rules. - JohnB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ted Peterson" <ted.peterson at tcsn.net>
To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: [Fmpro] Shore, Burton, Wood


Close but dig a little more. You are on the right track with Mozart
just fine tune it a little. I has to do with Mozart reviewing a
single Bach work that was in the possession of a fellow Freemason.

On Jun 5, 2008, at 1:46 PM, Fernando Rivas wrote:
>
> Well, not that I’m really after that gold star but Mozart, like most
> composers and musicians of his era was well trained in the art of
> counterpoint. Although Bach’s music and older music of the
> Renaissance was
> not in vogue publicly it was still known and studied by musicians.
> Undoubtedly Mozart’s inspiration to complete a religious work like the
> Requiem drew him to approach it from the traditional standpoint of
> older

For the following, I will simply say that we are still too close
historically to both composers. I've played Britten's "Nocturnal" and
both conducted and oversaw productions of "Peter Grimes." In the
sense of form, subject matter and musical integration, I think
"Grimes" shows some real dramatic innovation. Musically not so much
but an opera has to be looked at a number of different ways. I love
the work and it's one of my favorite operas. The British school is
somewhat eclectic. How many know any of the works of Arnold Bax? He's
kind of like a British Carl Nielsen (Not the Bridget.) but without
the output. Nielsen (By the way, the listen to the "Inextinguishable"
and you will see some interesting similarities to some working film
composers.) would hardly be called innovative but he has some
incredibly moving and powerful works. The same could be said of
Richard Strauss but both "Salome" and "Electra" of which I have seen
both staged are absolutely incredible. I saw "Electra" done with
staging by Joseph Svboda in Europe. The staging was so fantastic that
it actually elevated the music and I didn't think such a thing was
possible.

But remember how this thread started and it dealt with innovation. I
agree that innovation is not the end-all of composition. I also
happen to believe that so-called classical music worked through as
much of the diatonic/chromatic exploration as could be done and was
finally punctuated with Cage's "Silence." But that's a personal
opinion. I talked with Cage at a party and he didn't feel that way. I
have an interesting story concerning Cage and the performance artist
Rachel Rosenthal. It's a little long and not really part of this forum.
>
>> composers who have remained were the ones who  innovated. The ones
>> who
>> didn't innovate were left in the trash heap  of history.
>
> That’s not entirely true. Composers like Sergei Rachmaninoff, Benjamin
> Britten or Samuel Barber are not exactly on the trash heap of
> history and
> certainly have made a name for themselves though not as innovators.
>

Ted Peterson

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